Another Adventure Pass Lawsuit

Earlier this year, I told you about a decision in the 9th Circuit Court that said the US Forest Service’s Adventure Pass was being wrongfully used. The decision said the fee was not illegal, but that it was being vastly overused. The court said people entering National Forests could only be charged fees where improved facilities were available to the public, like permanent toilets, visitors’ centers, parking, trash receptacles, or interpretive signs and kiosks – and not just a trailhead. The initial decision from the 9th Circuit estimated 75% of the areas where the Adventure Pass is currently enforced would no longer need it.

Unfortunately, nothing has happened since then – so now another lawsuit is happening, according to Adventure Journal. The civil suit was filed last week and says the Forest Service has done little, if anything, to comply with the original ruling (read the suit here). The Adventure Pass web site still says you need a Pass when you park anywhere along the road for recreational purposes, regardless of whether or not the grounds have been developed.

2 Comments

If you’ve seen how the Angeles National Forest has been operating for the last 20 years, you would realize that the money collected has been wasted on overspending and not improvements. Drive up Azusa canyon any day during the summer and you will see overflowing trash cans and litter everywhere. The headquarters in Arcadia have been re-built to look like something from Disneyland and they did all of this after they refused firefighting helicopters during the early hours of the massive Station Fire….YES your money paid for the brilliants minds responsible for the Station Fire to explode beyond control. I’ve lived less than 300 yards from the Chantry Flats gate for over 40 years, and I remember being told that President Roosevelt made these National Forest lands free to use as their budgets were already paid for by federal taxes. Yes, your tax dollars paid for maintenance for 100 years before the Adv Pass was introduced. And I remember that things were better than they are today.